Charter Public School Teacher Qualification in Illinois

Per Illinois law, charter schools can hire 25% of teachers who are not traditionally licensed, while 75% of teachers must hold teaching licenses issued under Article 21B of the Illinois School Code.

Below are the requirements for teaching in a charter school if the teacher does not have a Professional Educator License.

State law dictates each state’s educator licensure rules. Specific information about Illinois requirements can be found here.

The law provides this flexibility to charter schools so that subject area specialists who might not be traditionally licensed can be employed at an Illinois charter school. For example, a charter school could hire an artist to teach art or a computer programmer to teach computer science.

If an educator does not have the required teaching license, they must meet the following requirements:

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher learning;
• Employed for a period of at least 5 years in an area requiring application of the individual’s education;
• Passed a content area knowledge test required for that subject and/or grade level that teacher is going to teach; pass the content area test for the subject and grade that the school wants to hire them to teach; this website includes the list of content area tests (see tab 2); and
• Demonstrate continuing evidence of professional growth, which shall include, but not be limited to, successful teaching experience, attendance at professional meetings, membership in professional organizations, additional credits earned at institutions of higher learning, travel specifically for educational purposes, and reading of professional books and periodicals.

Check out the comprehensive Illinois Board of Education’s Become an Educator web page to learn more.